A global group of scientists have reduced the time it takes to find and introduce disease-resistance genes from wild plants into domestic crops such as rice, wheat and potato, a research revealed on Tuesday.
Scientists from the John Innes Center in Britain, along with colleagues from Australia and the United States, have created a database known as AgRenSeq, where researchers can easily search for resistance genes already discovered in wild relatives of modern crops.
The study was co-authored by a global expert Professor HarbansBariana from the University of Sydney, who said that this technology will support the discovery and characterization of new sources of disease resistance in plants. Once researchers have identified resistance genes using AgRenSeq, they can clone them and introduce them to domestic crops to protect against diseases and pests,
“We have found a way to scan the genome(基因组)of a wild relative of a crop plant and pick out the resistance genes we need and we can do it in record time,” Dr. Brande Wulff, a project leader from the John Innes Centre, said.
“This used to be a process that took l0 Or 15 years and was like searching for a needle in a haystack(干草堆),” Wulff said. “We have perfected the method so that we can clone these genes in a matter of months and for just thousands of dollars instead of millions.”
The team are highly optimistic about their work, predicting it to be utilized in protecting many crops with wild relatives including soybeans, pea, cotton, potato, wheat, rice, banana and cocoa. “Using speed cloning and speed breeding we could deliver resistance genes into the best varieties within a couple of years, like a phoenix(凤凰) rising from the ashes,” Wulff added.
1.How have the researchers developed the resistance genes?
A.By reducing the research time.
B.By introducing them to wild plants.
C.By cloning them from domestic crops.
D.By getting resistance genes from wild plants.
2.What will be the use of the study in the future?
A.It will protect crops from being damaged by pests.
B.It will create a database for researchers to search.
C.It will protect domestic crops for 10 to 15 years.
D.It will contribute to reducing the wild plants.
3.Which of the following best explains “utilized” underlined in Paragraph 6?
A.Produced. B.Made.
C.Used. D.Studied.
4.What can we infer from what Brande Wulff said?
A.The resistance genes cost millions of dollars.
B.The resistance genes were found in a haystack.
C.It took the researchers ten years to find the resistance genes.
D.Disease-resistance genes will be put into practice soon.
Arthur Phillip High School, located in Parramatta, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, will be NSW’s first public high-rise high school. When it opens, the school will be different from anything else we’ve got across the system.
Students will eat lunch in courtyards overlooking city rooftops, before continuing their lessons in sound-proofed music rooms, science labs or atriums ( 中 庭 ) with eight metre-high ceilings. The specialty rooms, such as science labs, will be on the top floors. There will be large lifts, but students will be encouraged to use the stairs. There will be a gym, a play ground and play space on each floor.
The building will be run more like an office block than a traditional school, with a plant room used for the operation of the sprinklers（洒水装置）, air conditioning and elevator systems. In addition, people will be seen cleaning the windows while students are studying.
“We’re going to have to get kids used to that,” said Sylvia Corish, an executive director of school performance for the NSW Department of Education. “That’s going to be a unique experience.”
“This is a very different concept,” said the chief executive of School Infrastructure NSW, Anthony Manning. “While it has been challenging at times, the end product is going to be really amazing and impressive.”
“I am very surprised and happy to see how creative this learning space will be for students in the Parramatta region for years to come,” Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said.
The Herald visited the new high school, as construction of the ambitious project enters its final phase and students at the original school across the road prepare to begin testing its state-of-the-art facilities. In the next few months, students and teachers will visit the school to help ensure a smooth transition （过渡）. “It will be a matter of testing how people can move around the building,” Mr Manning said.
1.How’s the school in appearance?
A.It looks like an office building. B.It is like a traditional school.
C.It’s surrounded by green plants. D.It consists of different buildings.
2.How did Sarah Mitchel feel about the new school?
A.Amazed and impressed. B.Surprised and doubtful.
C.Delighted and astonished. D.Happy and satisfied.
3.Which might be a challenge?
A.Moving the original school from across the road.
B.Getting the students accustomed to the new situation.
C.Providing the students with more space for studying.
D.Encouraging the students to use the stairs instead of the lift.
4.What’s the best title for the passage?
A.NSW’s First Public High-rise High School
B.A New School that Overlook City Roofs
C.The Construction and System of a New School
D.A Unique Experience for High School Students
Probably one of the most popular topics in science-fiction of all times has been the idea of time traveling. We know and love such films as H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine, H. P. Lovecraft ’s The Shadow Out of Time as well as a great number of films and TV shows: Back to the Future, The Butterfly Effect. These, as well as many others, are dedicated mostly to one question: how can an individual affect or even change their entire life in the present by making even slight corrections, in their own past?
When I was a child, I often dreamed about a special pocket device that would allow me to “save” certain moments of my life. In that case, if I failed to do something, I could always “load” my life. I imagined all the things I could do if I had such power : jumping from very tall buildings without a parachute ( and “loading” at the last second) and taking up other risky occupations.
Sometimes, I would like to jump into a time machine, go back to a couple of years ago, and make many corrections. I would warn myself about the consequences of my most reckless (不顾后果的) decisions. I would talk to that long-haired teen holding his first cigarette and tell him, “Don't do that — years will pass until you finally manage to quit it. ” There are so many warnings I would give to myself that sometimes I think: was it really I who did this and that?
Having a time machine is an amazingly attractive idea. It seems that having one would make life so much easier! Perhaps, it is true. But what I think more often now is that living without it teaches us responsibility. I try to live each day at the maximum in order to regret nothing. This is actually what our parents always try to do when we are children. But you know what? I am glad that no time machine has been invented.
1.What's the writer's main purpose of writing Paragraph 1?
A.To introduce some famous movies.
B.To raise a question about time travel.
C.To show those movies are very popular.
D.To show the scenes in movies might become true.
2.What does the writer try to convey in this article?
A.Unpractical dreams can never be realized.
B.What happened in the past can't be changed.
C.The idea of the time machine is really a creative invention.
D.Being responsible for the present is better than regretting.
3.What's the writer's attitude toward the invention of the time machine?
A.Objective. B.Supportive.
C.Negative. D.Indifferent.
Teens love to socialize, and these websites give them a chance to do that while playing games, exploring virtual(虚拟的) worlds and taking quizzes(测试). Of course, teens also need to be safe online and report any cyber bullies(网络欺凌)
Instagram allows teens to upload photos of their daily life and share them friends. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and that must be true because Instagram has around 300 million users who are active each month. The platform is all about photos with short captions( 说明文字). When it comes to Instagram's users, 53 percent of them are aged 18-29, but most may be even younger and simply list their age as 18 in order to use the platform.
Habbo Hotel
Habbo Hotel is a place for teens to chat. Each teen receives a personal room to decorate with virtual objects. They can also dress their avatar(网络头像) in virtual clothes or create games to play with friends. The room might have music, be set up like a classroom, or have other features so different avatars can visit one another. Each room teens can interact in has an adult moderator (tt H m) to make sure it stays safe.
Fanlala
Fanlala is a social network that gives teens who love celebrities, music and TV shows a place to interact. Through it, a user can get the latest news and gossip on their favorite shows, as well as take quizzes to test their knowledge. Teens can set up their own profile(t*)on Fanlala and interact with other users.
Teen Chat
Teen Chat is a place for teens to interact with one another through forums(论坛)according to their interests. For example, there are chat rooms for those who love anime(4082)and for those who’ve just started college. There are also chat rooms for things like music, games, and sports. The platform offers a"Friend Finder"tool that will help teens search for people who live locally to them.
1.What makes Instagram different from other sites listed in the text?
A.It's a great place for people to share photos
B.The majority of its users are in their 20s
C.It has the largest number of users
D.Only those above 18 normally use it.
2.Which site allows its users to create their own character and design a virtual room for it?
A.Instagram B.Habbo Hotel.
C.Fanlala. D.Teen Chat.
3.What can you gain from Fanlala'?
A.Game skills. B.Sports knowledge.
C.Anime videos. D.entertainment news.
4.What would be the best title for the text?
A.Tips on online chatting B.Sites for socializing
C.Free chat rooms for everyone. D.How to fight cyber bullying
请阅读下面文字，并按照要求用英语写一篇150词左右的文章。
Yuan Longping, 90, known as the “father of hybrid rice”，plays a crucial role in helping China achieve food security. Every morning what he does first is go to the field and works as a “farmer”. When asked how much his shirt was, he told the reporter that it was 35 yuan.
Deng Jiaxian, the Founding Father of China’s A-Bomb and H-Bomb, was the founder and promoter of China’s nuclear weapon cause. However, it was not until he died that his parents and many of his friends realized that he had produced such extraordinary achievements.
Li Junxian, without whom it would have been impossible for us to send the rocket into space, is one of the academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. In 2018, this 90-year-old party member, donated 3 million yuan to set up the Doctor Innovation Fund and the Hardship Assistance Fund.
（写作内容）
1. 用约30个词概括上述信息的主要内容；
2. 分析上述国家功臣身上有哪些值得我们学习的优良品质；
3. 谈谈其中某一品质对你的启发，并举例说明。
（写作要求）
1. 写作过程中不能直接引用原文语句；
2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3. 不必写标题。
（评分标准）
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
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请认真阅读下面短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。
注意：请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。每个空格只填一个单词。
The Cost of Thinking
Despite their many differences, all human beings share several defining characteristics, such as large brains and the ability to walk upright on two legs.
The first unique human characteristic is that humans have extraordinarily large brains compared with other animals. It seems obvious that evolution should select for larger brains. Mammals(哺乳动物) weighing sixty kilograms have an average brain size of 200 cm2. Modern man has a brain averaging 1200-1400 cm2. We are so fond of our high intelligence that we assume that when it comes to brain power, more must be better. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
The fact is that a huge brain is a huge drain—consumption of energy—on the body. It’s not easy to carry around, especially when boxed inside a massive skull(倾骨). It’s even harder to provide energy. In modern man, the brain accounts for about 2-3% of total body weight, but it consumes 25% of the body’s energy when the body is at rest. By comparison, the brains of apes(类人猿) require only 8% of rest-time energy. Early humans paid for their large brains in two ways. Firstly, they spent more time in search of food. Secondly, their muscles grew smaller and weaker. It’s hardly an obvious conclusion that this is a good way to survive. A chimpanzee(黑猩猩) can’t win an argument with a modern man, but it can tear the man apart like a rag doll.
Another unique human characteristic is that we walk upright. Standing up, it’s easier to find food or enemies. In addition, their arms that are unnecessary for moving around are freed for other purposes, like throwing stones or signaling. As a result, humans can perform very complex tasks with their hands.
Yet walking upright has its disadvantage. The bone structure of our ancestors developed for millions of years to support a creature that walked on all fours and has a relatively small head. Adjusting to an upright position was quite a challenge, especially when the bones had to support an extra-large skull. Humankind paid for its broad vision and skillful hands backaches and painful necks.
We assume that a large brain makes huge advantages. It seems obvious that these have made humankind the most powerful animal on earth. But humans enjoyed all of these advantages for a full 2 million years during which they remained weak and marginal creatures. Thus humans who lived a million years ago, despite their big brains and sharp stone tools, lived in constant fear of meat-eating animals.
The Cost of Thinking | |
Introduction | • Large brains for their bodies and the ability to walk upright are two 1. of human beings. |
The 2. of large human brains | • The larger brains may not be better because of the cost. • The big brains make it harder for the body to move around and consume more energy. • The animal brain requires less 3. when the body is at rest. • Large human brains consume more food, and weaken muscles. |
The 4. of walking upright | • Walking upright makes it easy to find food or 5. against enemies. • Freed hands can serve some 6. purposes and perform complex tasks. |
• Walking upright challenges the human bone structure, and 7. the size of brains. • Walking upright results in 8. sufferings. | |
Conclusion | • With a large brain, human beings 9. other beings in terms of intelligence. • Weak and marginal, human beings remained 10. of meat-eating animals. |
